Orson Welles
Biography
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.
Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces.
In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
Acting (243 movies)
Citizen Kane
1941
A Man for All Seasons
1966
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942
Chimes at Midnight
1965
The Third Man
1949
Touch of Evil
1958
History of the World: Part I
1981
Twelve Plus One
1969
The Trial
1962
The Transformers: The Movie
1986
Moby Dick
1956
Catch-22
1970
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
Is Paris Burning?
1966
The Stranger
1946
And Then There Were None
1974
House of Cards
1968
Journey into Fear
1943
Treasure Island
1972
The Deep
2007
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
1965
Jane Eyre
1943
Don Quixote
1992
According to Occam's Razor
1999
Welles' Language
1990
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
1997
Casino Royale
1967
Waterloo
1970
Follow the Boys
1944
The Battle of Neretva
1969
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
1975
Macbeth
1948
Butterfly
1982
The Long, Hot Summer
1958
Compulsion
1959
Necromancy
1972
The Vikings
1958
F for Fake
1973
Napoleon
1955
The V.I.P.s
1963
American: An Odyssey to 1947
2022
The Black Rose
1950
The Southern Star
1969
Prince of Foxes
1949
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023
Mr. Arkadin
1955
Tomorrow Is Forever
1946
Three Cases of Murder
1955
The Kremlin Letter
1970
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
2014
Malpertuis
1972
Othello
1951
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
1981
Royal Affairs in Versailles
1954
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
1995
The Biggest Battle
1978
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
2003
Tepepa
1969
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
1980
Slapstick of Another Kind
1982
A Safe Place
1971
Hot Tomorrows
1977
Trent's Last Case
1952
Ten Days' Wonder
1971
The Immortal Story
1968
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019
The Late Great Planet Earth
1978
Voyage of the Damned
1976
David and Goliath
1960
Black Magic
1949
It's All True
1993
Ferry to Hong Kong
1959
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
1963
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021
Get to Know Your Rabbit
1972
The Fountain of Youth
1958
The Force Beyond
1977
The Spanish Earth
1937
The Witching
1983
Marco the Magnificent
1965
It Happened One Christmas
1977
Filming Othello
1978
Mysterious Castles of Clay
1978
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
1967
Trouble in the Glen
1954
Where Is Parsifal?
1984
Return to Glennascaul
1953
It's All Brazil
1997
Parkinson at 50
2021
The Road to Bresson
1984
Too Much Johnson
1934
The Tartars
1961
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
1970
Hot Money
1983
Man, Beast and Virtue
1953
Someone to Love
1987
The Fight for Rome
1968
Magic with the Stars
1982
The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles
1973
King Lear
1953
Directing (44 movies)
Citizen Kane
1941
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942
Chimes at Midnight
1965
Touch of Evil
1958
The Trial
1962
The Land of the Basques
1955
The Stranger
1946
Don Quixote
1992
Macbeth
1948
F for Fake
1973
Mr. Arkadin
1955
Othello
1951
The Hearts of Age
1934
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
1958
The Immortal Story
1968
The Fountain of Youth
1958
It's All True: Four Men on a Raft
1986
Vienna
1968
It's All True
1993
Filming Othello
1978
Too Much Johnson
1934
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
2003
The Other Side of the Wind
2018
The Dreamers
1985
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
1984
The Deep
2007
The Merchant of Venice
1969
Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
1960
Moby Dick
2000
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
Filming 'The Trial'
1981
Twelfth Night
1933
London
1971
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970
The Orson Welles Show
1979
Hopper/Welles
2020
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
2005
Moby Dick Rehearsed
1955
It's All True
1943
The Heroine
1967
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
Don Quichotte
1955
Orson Welles' F for Fake Trailer
1976